Hickory Flat, MS
How exposed is Hickory Flat to wildfire?
Hickory Flat sits at the 77th percentile nationally for wildfire risk to structures — well above the national norm for wildfire risk — per USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model, built from its 367 counted buildings, not vegetation cover alone. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Hickory Flat at the 80th national percentile — 3 points above its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
Most of Hickory Flat's buildings (55.6%) sit in the Indirect zone, where wind-blown embers rather than flame front are the mechanism USFS is scoring — ember-resistant vents and non-combustible roofing are the interventions this pattern favors, more than defensible space alone.
How Hickory Flat compares
Hickory Flat's risk sits at a similar level relative to Mississippi (75th percentile statewide) as it does nationally (77th) — this place isn't unusual for its own state either way. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Hickory Flat ranks 7,280 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 19,924 by building count (1 is largest). Within Mississippi alone, it ranks 105 of 420 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Mississippi on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Hickory Flat
Hickory Flat's high rating (77th percentile) puts it among the places where the national carrier-pullback trend is most relevant — not a guarantee of a coverage problem, but a reason to shop rather than assume.
Hardening a home in Hickory Flat
Because 55.6% of Hickory Flat's buildings sit in the Indirect zone, sealing the ember pathway (vents, roofing, gutters) is the intervention this page's data actually supports — see the home-hardening guide.
Where Hickory Flat's figures come from
Hickory Flat's 77th-percentile score and its burn-probability figure both come from the same USFS workbook, documented in the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Hickory Flat's dominant indirect exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.